There are so many great one-liners in this film that it would be hard to know where to begin. Oh, and don't miss an appearance by the Lovin' Spoonful and the guy with the really bad Peter Lorre imitation. The English dub job Woody Allen did on this movie is ten times funnier than most of the movies made nowadays. I loved it!
May 13, 2008 |  | Phil Moscowitz: "Saracen pig! Spartan dog! Take this! And this!" |  |
Phil Moscowitz: "Roman cow! Russian snake! Spanish fly! Anglo-Saxon Hun!"
Suki Yaki: "Don't excite yourself. I never sleep with a man who owns a dress."
High Macha Of Rashpur: "They kill, they maim and they call information for numbers they could easily look up in the book."
Shepherd Wong: "I didn't order any fumigation! It's Wing Fool, you fat! I mean... it's Wing Fat, you fool!"
Wing Fat: "This is my mother. We're very close. Isn't she sweet? And the best thing about her is: she can really take a PUNCH!"
October 5, 2007 | | an absurdist journey through B-movie mayhem....... | |
Only Woody Allen could take on B-movie Japanese spy films, mix them with off-the-wall, completely random dialogue and "one liners" from his American dubbists, and make it work. How? I honest-to-god don't know. I am surprised that I could watch this film completely sober and find it so damn funny. Yet, I did. You would think I would have had to be at least drunk! No, I actually understood most of Woody Allen's (early) vision of taking INTERNATIONAL SECRET POLICE: KEY OF KEYS (originally released in 1965), shuffling the sequence of events in the plot, and using the voices of (among other actors) Louise Lasser (Allen's first wife and star in his later work, BANANAS, as well as TV's MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN), Frank Buxton and Len Maxwell. The sight gags come fast and furious. There is a running joke about egg salad that I still don't understand (and this has been a few years since I first watched the film!), cobras and chickens falling in love, and other incredibly odd shenanigans, and yet it's still so odd it's brilliant (somehow). I can't honestly say it's something I would watch over and over again. Once is probably enough. Yet, I really think it's interesting to see the evolution of Woody Allen as a filmmaker, and what better way to do that, than by watching his earliest work (where he didn't even appear directly--except to introduce the piece before it even begins). Check this out just so you can tell your friends that you saw it!!
September 12, 2007Broad, wacky, and extremely funny, "What's Up" is not for everyone, but if you're in need of some divine silliness, you cannot do better. Characteristic of Woody's earlier work, not every gag works, but there are so many of them that you come out way ahead, with cheeks and stomach muscles aching. A fully justified cult classic. My favorite moment: man peeking through keyhole.
July 2, 2007Whether you love this movie or hate it, it's the source of one of the very greatest puns in the English language:
Phil Moscowitz, to Shepherd Wong: "Well, you know, two Wongs don't make a white!"
April 11, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
Daily Birthdays
